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Head of fraud ring
gets maximum sentence
His ring allegedly netted
By Debra Barayuga
more than $100 million
Star-BulletinThe head of a Philippines-based syndicate accused of defrauding the United States and other countries of more than $100 million has been sentenced to 97 months in prison.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor yesterday gave Trinidad Ramos Santos, 56, the maximum sentence possible under federal sentencing guidelines.
Santos had pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy and altering a U.S. obligation.
Gillmor said the evidence indicated that the crime ring had been operating out of the Philippines for at least 15 years.
The group allegedly took possession of hundreds of U.S. Treasury checks by robbing post offices and postal trucks throughout the United States and the Philippines.
The checks were then altered and cashed in China, United Arab Emirates and various foreign countries, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Omer Poirier.
It is the largest fraud operation ever broken by the U.S. Secret Service, confirmed Mark Posey, assistant agent-in-charge of the Secret Service in Honolulu.
The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are anticipated, he said.
Santos, daughter-in-law Agnes Santos and Jaime Quito were arrested at a Waikiki hotel room in May 1998 after they flew here to meet with a Honolulu police detective posing as a corrupt First Hawaiian Bank official.
A break in the case came five months earlier when Quito, approached by Philippine National Police, agreed to cooperate.
Quito is considered a major player whose job was to alter stolen checks by cutting out numbers from one U.S. treasury check; use them to increase the amount of another check; and forge signatures.
Quito, 55, was sentenced last October to 16 months imprisonment and three years supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy.
Agnes Santos, 36, awaits sentencing next month. Another member of the conspiracy, Antonio Santiago, has pleaded guilty to altering checks in Los Angeles.
